Each year a baby goes through about 3,000 diapers, essential care products that are in continuous contact with sensitive skin. But manufacturers are not required to completely disclose what disposable diapers are made of, leaving parents in the dark. That may soon change in California.
A bill introduced last month would require companies that make, distribute and sell diapers in the state to list all ingredients on product packaging and online in what would be a major shift toward transparency for the industry.
Child health, environmental and consumer advocates have grown concerned over what goes into making disposable diapers, which can contain chemicals, plastics and other ingredients linked to potential health and environmental risks, according to multiple studies, including a 2024 study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment. If approved, advocacy groups said the bill would give parents more information for decision-making and pressure manufacturers to avoid using ingredients they wouldn’t want to disclose.
“We do know it’s feasible, because some companies have already chosen to do this voluntarily,” said Gabe Knight, a senior policy analyst for the safety policy team at Consumer Reports, a nonprofit pushing for consumer transparency and market fairness that is sponsoring the bill. “We just want the rest of the market to do what some companies are already doing and give consumers the information they need.”
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AB 1901, which was introduced by Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park), would also require manufacturers to disclose the purpose of each ingredient listed. If enacted, the law would go into effect in January 2028 to give manufacturers time to use up current stock and adjust packaging and ingredients as they see fit, Berman said. The California law would build off of a similar one passed in New York last year.
Companies would be fined up to $5,000 for the first nondisclosure violation and up to $10,000 for any subsequent violation.
Berman said he is working with manufacturers over concerns that the required disclosure would force them to divulge trade secrets.
The Center for Baby and Adult Hygiene Products, the trade association representing diaper manufacturers, opposes the bill.
“Diapers are designed and manufactured to meet strict safety standards, and decades of real-world use support their safety for infants and children,” a spokesperson for the association said in a statement. “Beyond compliance, BAHP member companies follow rigorous internal safety standards that often go above and beyond what regulations require.”
The statement said that scientists, medical professionals, and toxicologists, evaluate ingredients “for safety, and products are thoroughly assessed and, where appropriate, tested to ensure they’re gentle and suitable even for the most sensitive skin.”
Babies’ vulnerable skin
Infant skin is thinner and more absorbent, making babies more vulnerable to chemicals in disposable diapers, said Kelly Hardy, the senior managing director of health and research at the nonprofit Children Now, which is among the bill’s sponsors.
And their skin can become more permeable when in a wet diaper. Because babies’ organs and systems are still developing, exposures can also have outsize effects, said Susan Little, the California legislative director for Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit advocacy organization sponsoring the diaper bill.
Diapers may use synthetic musks to create fragrances as well as plastics that contain chemicals such as phthalates and volatile organic compounds, which studies have linked to developmental delays, reproductive harm, endocrine system disruption and cancer. Chemicals can also cause severe rashes and asthma.
“A lot of diapers aren’t very straightforward,” Little said. “They’re getting more complicated, like with wetness indicators and things that bring in new chemicals into the mix and that aren’t clearly disclosed to consumers and to parents.”
When Kirstie Rickert’s daughter was born a preemie two years ago, diaper rashes were a major and relentless struggle. She followed her pediatrician’s advice, adding tube after tube of rash cream to no avail. She changed disposable diaper brands numerous times.
“It’s scary,” said Rickert of Victorville. “These chemicals, they’re always pressed up against their body, and babies are wearing diapers until they’re 2, sometimes 5 — 24/7.”
Cloth can be a good option for babies who are faced with constant irritation from disposable diapers because they have fewer synthetic materials and no added fragrances or gels, said Dr. Colleen Kraft, a general pediatrician for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
But it isn’t always the most feasible choice for working parents such as Rickert, who opted to create her own disposable diapers that rely on ingredients such as bamboo and corn husk, omit fragrances and limit plastics. With them, her daughter’s skin no longer gets irritated, said Rickert, who got her business Cuddle-Kin off the ground last year.
Kraft said some families rely on a combination of disposable and cloth diapers.
What the law requires of diaper manufacturers
An evaluation by Consumer Reports found that only two of 31 disposable diapers it analyzed disclosed every or almost all materials on their ingredient lists. Seven had very little to no information disclosed.
Many of the chemicals used to produce diapers are hidden behind terms such as “fragrance” and “parfum,” which are umbrella terms that can mask undisclosed ingredients, Little said. Materials used in adhesive and wetness indicators are also rarely disclosed on packaging.
Unlike adult incontinence products, baby diapers are not regulated as medical devices under the Federal Drug Administration. Instead, they fall under the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which requires baby diapers to be tested for lead but not for other chemicals that could potentially be harmful, Hardy said.
Without ingredient disclosures, parents are unable to accurately compare products and may not know when manufacturers change ingredients, Knight said.
Berman, who is pushing the legislation as a first-time father, says parents and caregivers such as himself should have the option to know what’s in a product that constantly comes in contact with their children’s skin throughout their first few years of life.
“You just feel really in the dark at that point,” Berman said about the lack of transparency. “It makes you wonder, why don’t they tell you? A little scary.”
Berman and his wife, whose son was born in July, had transparency concerns and switched to Coterie Diapers, which he found presented its ingredients more clearly. It does not disclose details regarding its adhesives and wetness indicator, however, according to Consumer Report’s evaluation.
Still, children are getting exposed to plastics through products beyond diapers, Kraft said. It’s important for families to consider the other ways children might come in contact with the material, including through bottles and toys, she said.
“Parents today want something healthy for their baby’s skin and healthy for the environment — and that means really thinking about plastic exposure,” Kraft said.
This article is part of The Times’ early childhood education initiative, focusing on the learning and development of California children from birth to age 5. For more information about the initiative and its philanthropic funders, go to latimes.com/earlyed.
